Mental Health Monday
Depression + Self-Compassion
From Omaha World Herald (2/18): "Practicing self-compassion via virtual reality may ease depression. For people with depression it can often be difficult to practice self-compassion. The voices in their heads berate them, exacerbating feelings of hopelessness & despair. The negative self-talk plays on a loop. Most would never talk to a loved one, or even a stranger, the way they talk to themselves.
"But the distorted view of themselves is their reality, & they feel deserving of the self-criticism. So it's often hard for traditional therapy techniques to be enough to break the cycle.
"A British clinical psychologist wanted to help his patients stop this vicious self-abuse. He wanted a way to let them experience how good self-compassion can feel without him just telling them or challenging their unhealthy thoughts.
"With a team of researchers from University College London & University of Barcelona, he developed a test where patients enter a virtual reality through life-size avatars. Wearing virtual-reality glasses & body sensors, the patients watch their avatars mimic their body movements, making it feel as if they are one in the same. It's called 'embodiment.'
"In the study, the avatar comes across a crying child. The patient was previously given generic compassionate phrases to offer the child & was instructed to deliver them slowly & softly. The child avatar was programmed to respond positively to the patient's kindness.
"Then, in the 2nd phase, the patient takes on the role of the child &, in the virtual reality world, sees the adult avatar they just embodied approach them & offer the same words of compassion in their own voice.
"After repeating the intervention 3 more times over a month, several patients said it had helped them be kinder to themselves, & many said it reduced their depressive symptoms. One patient said it made her realize that 'we are all human & vulnerable & it's OK to be vulnerable as an adult,' according to the report. Others said they reflect on the experience when they were upset & it helped them be more self-compassionate.
"Chris Brewin, a clinical psychologist at UCL, who led the study, said these patients aren't used to hearing compassionate statements spoken to them in their own voice.
"'Having it from a 1st-person perspective is a very powerful experience, it's like one part of themselves is talking to the other,' Brewin said in an interview. 'I think it's also enabling them to put these things into words & actually have that experience of deliberately saying these things to themselves, which they wouldn't usually do. We've created an artificial situation, which allows them to hear themselves be self-compassionate, & they think, 'Actually this make me feel god.''
"The test was a small group of 15 patients with varying degrees of depression. Because of the small sample size, the researchers cannot say affirmatively that the virtual reality experience was the reason for the mental health improvements. But Rewin believes that if more research confirms his first study, it could be a revolutionary way to treat depression."
MY COMMENT: I included this excerpt as support for an insight that I thought might be helpful to others who suffer from depression. Speaking from experience, when I am experiencing a spike in depression, no one is a more severe critic of myself than . . . myself. I have no patience with myself. I blame myself for other people's issues. I blow relatively minor mistakes into major catastrophes.
It makes it hard to accept compliments, & others may perceive this quality as modesty-or false modesty. Maybe I'd rather think of it as modesty, too. But I can say with all honesty that many, many times when I was complimented for things, I smiled & accepted the compliments but my thought process went something like this: "Seriously? I'm doing that good a job at fooling people? Someday I'm going to get discovered. Sooner or later people or going to find out that I'm a fraud. A failure as a parent. A spouse. An administrator. Face it. I'm a loser. My mistakes are too many, too grave."
Would you say that's a lack of self-compassion? Or would you say I'm indulging in a pity party? Sometimes it's hard to know the difference.
That's where therapy can be very, very helpful. And that's why I hope that this may be a helpful insight.
Cognitive behavioral therapy will NOT provide you with someone who merely keeps telling you that you're wrong to think this way. It will provide you with someone who is trained to help you understand your thought processes, get to the root of self-defeating thought process, & hopefully turn the corner & practice more constructive thought processes.
One more insight for what it's worth . . . I've found that all too often when my depression is spiking, I tend to "slide into a hole," become very self-absorbed & oblivious to the cares & concerns of those around me. Looking for ways to help others, making it a point to build up others, and PRAYING for the needs of others--all as opposed to focusing nearly every waking moment on my own problems--helps me turn the focus from my own pity party to compassion for others.
CAVEAT: I think I've mentioned within the last few weeks that I've been afflicted by a case of winter doldrums. This past week I thought I'd taken a few steps forward, then maybe a step or two back. Also, reading over my insights, I'm feeling that they reflect some disjointed, unfocused thinking. This could be the result of:
It makes it hard to accept compliments, & others may perceive this quality as modesty-or false modesty. Maybe I'd rather think of it as modesty, too. But I can say with all honesty that many, many times when I was complimented for things, I smiled & accepted the compliments but my thought process went something like this: "Seriously? I'm doing that good a job at fooling people? Someday I'm going to get discovered. Sooner or later people or going to find out that I'm a fraud. A failure as a parent. A spouse. An administrator. Face it. I'm a loser. My mistakes are too many, too grave."
Would you say that's a lack of self-compassion? Or would you say I'm indulging in a pity party? Sometimes it's hard to know the difference.
That's where therapy can be very, very helpful. And that's why I hope that this may be a helpful insight.
Cognitive behavioral therapy will NOT provide you with someone who merely keeps telling you that you're wrong to think this way. It will provide you with someone who is trained to help you understand your thought processes, get to the root of self-defeating thought process, & hopefully turn the corner & practice more constructive thought processes.
One more insight for what it's worth . . . I've found that all too often when my depression is spiking, I tend to "slide into a hole," become very self-absorbed & oblivious to the cares & concerns of those around me. Looking for ways to help others, making it a point to build up others, and PRAYING for the needs of others--all as opposed to focusing nearly every waking moment on my own problems--helps me turn the focus from my own pity party to compassion for others.
CAVEAT: I think I've mentioned within the last few weeks that I've been afflicted by a case of winter doldrums. This past week I thought I'd taken a few steps forward, then maybe a step or two back. Also, reading over my insights, I'm feeling that they reflect some disjointed, unfocused thinking. This could be the result of:
- Spending time on this blog last night (SUN 2/28), while simultaneously watching back episodes of "MARVEL: Agents of Shield" on Netflix; and/or
- An example of what I'm trying to describe; and/or
- A disruption in the space-time continuum which occurs every four years on Feb. 29; and/or
- My continuing efforts to cut back on my coffee in anticipation of my hip replacement surgery on March 15.
Reasons for Anxiety?
Taglines from Drudge Report, dated 2/27/16:
- "DEUTSCHE BANK: Time to buy gold . . . [My investment in gold takes the form of some dental work.]
Also from OWH (2/16): "New Tarantula Species. No chops, but it could chomp. A tarantula named after singer Johnny Cash is among 14 new species identified by scientists who spent a decade collecting the hairy spiders & studying nearly 3,000 of them. The spider doesn't sing, but it's black & can be found near the CA prison that was the setting of Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues.' . . .
"Would johnycashi's venom burn, burn, burn? Nope, said Hamilton, who said most tarantulas are not aggressive. The fangs would hurt more than the venom, he said." [I'm not sure if reading this will induce an anxiety attack in my daughter or not. I hope not. Well, that's probably not true, since I'm not deleting it. Besides, she induced plenty of anxiety attacks in me by having me come running, due to her hysterical shrieking, thinking she had seriously, possibly mortally injured herself, only to discover that she was "trapped" in her bedroom or bathroom by a spider the size of a flea. I'm just sayin'.]
